Method and machine for making paper cups



Dec. 6, 1938. w. E. AMBERG 2,139,614

METHOD AND MACHINE FOR MAKING PAPER CUPS Filed April 27, 1938 INVENTOR.

' w aZfe/E 9 Kg #4 K 2 ATTORNEY.

v Patented Dec. 6, 1938 UNITED STATES METHOD AND MACHINE FOR MAKING rarer. curs Walter E. Amberg, Chicago, Ill., assignor to Universal Paper Products Company, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Illinois 21 Claims.

This invention relates to an improved apparatus and method for use in the manufacture of cone-shaped paper cups having pointed apexes.

Heretofore in the manufacture of cone-shaped .5 paper cups having pointed apexes it has been cusquently wind it into a pointed conical cup. In

some instances it has been customary to die cut blanks from paper and stack them one upon the other in a magazine from which they are fed singly to a pair of cup forming cones. In other instances it has been proposed to cut the blanks from a continuous strip of paper or web and to feed the blanks thus cut singly, one by one, to the cup forming cones. In all of these instances it has been customary to have a certain amount of waste which is produced either during the die cutting, the blank forming, or the cup forming operations. waste results from the paper between adjacent die cuts, in the second by the paper which is disposed 'between adjacent cup blanks and is rejected as sur'plusage, and in the third by the excess paper which is trimmed from the blank by means of a knife engaging with the base of one of the cones.

It has been stated that heretofore pointed conical cups are formed by rolling or winding the blank about one of the plurality of cone-shaped mandrels or formers. These instrumentalities are subject to numerous objections owing to various problems which arise in connection with their use. They must preferably be mounted for rotation at the exact same speed, they must be separated at some point to permit discharge of a cup, and various other problems arise which encourage the development of a machine and process which would eliminate the employment of one or both of them.

With the foregoing desiderata in view, the

, present invention includes, among its various objects and features, the following several which may be said to be of outstanding significance. First, the provision of an improved machine and process which eliminates the formation of a blank as a step precedent to the formation of a pointed cone-shaped cup. By eliminating the necessity of pre-forming a blank obvious savings in cutting and material and accordant simplicity In the first of these instances the Application April 27, 1938, Serial No. 204,672

in design of machines may be eflected. This feature or object of the invention is accomplished by supplying to the machine a continuous strip of paper and winding or rolling a cone-shaped cup having a pointed apex upon the. end of the 5 strip of paper without first severing a blank therefrom. The cup is wound directly on the end of the strip and after the winding operation is commenced and before it is completed the cup itself as it is being wound, is severed from the end 10 of the strip.

Second, the improved machine and process in-- clude a former or mandrel about which the pointed cup is wound, but they dispense with the necessity of providing a cooperating former or 16 mandrel of the same configuration. Instead of providing a second rotating cooperating former the invention proposes to associate a smooth, stationary cooperating member with the conical former, thereby eliminating one of the moving 20 parts heretofore considered essential in an operation of this type. In accomplishing this object or feature of the invention the conical former is rotated about its own axis, simultaneously moved through a circular orbit or path, and in so doing 25 presses against a smooth fixed surface which serves as a bed or presser plate during the operation of forming the cup.

Third, another important feature of the invention resides in the formation of a completed 30 cup during two revolutions of the conical former about its own axis. Actually, the former rotates about its own axis approximately three times as it moves once through its circular orbit or path, and. during two of these revolutions the 35 cup is formed and during the third it is discharged from the former. Previously in the formation of cone-shaped cups having pointed apexes it has been necessary, owing to the configuration of the cup blank and the operation of the cup forming o instrumentalities, to rotate the conical former aboutits own axis three or more times in order to produce a cup, and inasmuch as speed of operation is of primary importance in the manufacture of inexpensive paper cups the provision of 5 a method whereby a cup is produced on each dual rotation of the former constitutes a distinct contribution to the cup making art.

Other objects and features of the invention will become apparent from a reading of the following 5 specification in the light of the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 is a top plan view illustrating somewhat diagrammatically the machine and method of the present invention; s

Figure 2 is a view showing a cup being wound upon the former of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a view of the former in discharg position;

Figure 4 is a view in front elevation of a cup constructed in accordance with the present invention;. and I Figure 5 is a view in section of the cup former and cutting knife.

In the drawing the machine and method are purposely shown somewhat diagrammatically. The actual machines which have been constructed to embody the present invention are replete with details of design and construction which, although useful, are not considered patentable, and hence they arenot being disclosed or claimed herein. On the contrary, in this application only the basic, important and broadly novel features of the invention are being disclosed and claimed, in order that the importance of such features will not be obscured or overshadowed by the inclusion of mere details of feedingmechanisms, gluing devices, gear arrangements, supports, stackers and the like. I All of these latter named instrumentalities are old and any mechanic skilled in the art can quickly and conveniently adopt and adapt them for the practice of the present invention.

Turning now to Figure 1, a continuous strip of paper coming from a roll or other'suitable source of supply is indicated by the reference numeral l0, and this strip is fed by a suitablemechanism to a forming cone [2. In actual operation the forward or breast edge M of the paper strip is fed into the position illustrated in Figure 1, in which its central point coincides with the pointed apex of the former l2, and when it reaches this position further feed of the paper 1 strip is temporarily suspended while a cup rolling or winding operation takes place. .As shown,- the apex of the former exactly coincides with the breast edge of the blank, although, if desired, the apex may be moved slightly within the body of the blank in the manner illustrated in United States Patent No. 1,434,934, granted November '7,

1922 to Van Sant.

The conical cup former |2 rotates about its own axis and simultaneously moves through a circuline position shown in Figure 1, in which the cup has been completely wound on the conical former.-

Of course, to prevent the continuous strip ill from being torn or twisted it is necessary to sever the cup from. the end of the strip and this is done simultaneously with the cup forming operation. As shown in Figure 5, the rear edge 20 of the conical former is sharpened to serve'as a cutting knife and it cooperates with a cutting edge 22 formed on the forward extremity of a platform 24 across the upper surface of which the paper strip I ll is fed. The contour of the cutting edge'22 is arcuate and corresponds identically to the path I followed by the cone edge during the course of its rotation about the table or smootlfsurface upon which the cone-shaped former is mounted. Thus,

I commences.

in operation the pick-up first grips the corner l8 of the blank and the winding or rolling operation 'Shortly thereafter, theinstant the point 30 is reached, the cone edge engages and coperates with the knife edge 22 and thereby severs from the strip it the cup which is being wound about the conical former i2. As the cone continues to rotate the severing operation continues until the point 32 at the opposite extremity 'of the cutting knife is reached, whereupon severance is complete, and thereafter until the cone reaches the dotted line position shown in Figure 1 the operation of the machine is merely that of completing the winding or rolling of the cup. Thus, the cup is severed intermediate of the winding operation. The instant the cone has reached the dotted line position of Figure 1 the cup, now completely wound and in its finished state, is wrapped about the conical former l2, whereupon byrneans of any convenient stripping device such as compressed air, a movable tip or plunger forming the apex of the conical former, or a stripping wheel which engages the exterior of the cup, the latter is removed from the conical former to permit the former to reengage the end of the strip which has been fed forward by the feeding mechanism during the cup stripping operation.

In Figure 1 is illustrated in principle what is perhaps the most compact and economical machine ever devised for manufacturing pointed cone-shaped cups. During each dual rotation of the cone former i2 about its own axis and each movement of the cone about the orbit a cup is formed. A number of factors contribute to this important feature of the invention which consists in forming a cup on each dual revolution of the cone. projections or parts which tendedto separate away from the cup when finally wound, it would be necessary to roll the cup for a comparatively prolonged period of time against a cooperating surface in order to iron down these projections and give the glue an opportunity to solidify before discharging the cup, otherwise it would tend to spring apart and the cup would come open at the seam. However, by affording the large adhesive area which is indicated by the reference numerals A, B and C in Figures 1, 2 and 3, tli'e amount of adhesive and the extent of the blank adhered thereby is sufliciently great or-extensive that any tendency of the blank to spring apart is overcome during a dual revolution of the cone. Fur-. thermore, the blank itself has been so designed and is so shaped that likelihood or tendency to spring apart is reduced to a minimum. Thus, as illustrated in Figure 4, the only point where there is a tendency is at the tip or point D and For example, if the completed cup had this tendency is overcome because practically the entire surface overlying this tip, as represented by the shaded area in Figure 4, is coated with adhesive.

No paper is wasted during the cup forming operation and each cup is formed by severing it from the strip along the same arcuate or circular line. Only one cone is provided and it rotates, first, about its own axis which coincides withthe longitudinal axis of a shaft 40 upon which the cone is mounted, and second, simultaneously therewith, through a circular orbit or path of which the apex of the cone forms the center and the dotted line 42 forms the circumference. It will be apparent that the apex of the -cone need not coincide with the center of the circle through which the cone moves and that contour of the smooth immobile table or surface around which it rolls it will be possible to change the position and arrangement of the cone with respect to the table. slightly conical the forming cone I! may be moved outwardly away from the center of the table, in which condition the apex of the cone will no longer coincide with the center of the circular path but will be more or less ofi-set therefrom. The important feature of the invention in this regard resides in eliminating one of the conical rotating mandrels and substituting therefor a smooth immobile surface which coop- .erates with a single rotary former. This is made possible by mounting the. former for simultaneous rotation about, first. its own axis, and second, along a circular path in the direction of the center of which extends the apex of the conica former.

Two further points regarding this invention may be emphasized. One is the small and restricted areas in which the vinstrumentalities of this invention must'operate. The other is the fact that this invention is designed to produce single piece vessels. In the first place, the invention is particularly adapted for making coneshaped cups having side walls which converge at a relatively sharp angle, and particularly those in which the height of the cup as represented by the reference numeral h in Figure 4 is not more than twice the diameter of the cup as represented by the letter (Z in Figure 4.

Secondly, this invention relates to vessels formed from a single piece of material as distinguished, for example, from that type of cup in which a second, separate piece of material is necessary to form the bottom of the vessel. In this connection, it may be noted that while I have stressed the value of my method for the formation of single piece cone-shaped vessels having a pointed apex, my method of rolling a conical mandrel in an orbit is also particularly well adapted for forming single-piece conical vessels in which the end or bottom is flattened -compressed inwardly, inverted, blunted, or otherwise shaped. This may be accomplished, for example. by providing a-conical mandrel having a receding tip or apex adapted to cooperate with an auxiliarymember movable toward and away from the end of the mandrel as the mandrel moves in its orbit, thereby shaping the end or bottom part of the cup in any desired manner as the cup is being formed. In this way singlepiece cups may be formed having a iiat bottom an inverted apex, or a plurality of recesses therein.

It will be appreciated from the description that has been given that the cone-shaped former rotates continuously about its own axis and moves continuously through the circular orbit.

Furthermore, the cup rotates three complete times about its own axis each time it'moves through its circular path. During'two of ,these rotations the cup is completely wound about the former and during the third the cup .is discharged into a suitable stacking or conveying apparatus. Thus, it will be seen that during a cup forming operation the paper is wound about an apex which is located at the center of the forward edge of the paper, or somewhat inwardly therefrom, and the relative position of the apex of the cup does not change during the cup forming operation. First the corner of the blank is gripped by the pick-up and the winding operation commences. This winding operation con- Thus, by making the table tinues until the cup is completely formed, where upon the cup is discharged from the former while the latter is continuing its movement through the circular orbit or path. Thus, the cup is moving laterally at the time it is discharged. From a somewhat different aspect it will be observed that the cup blank is laid out on the flat supporting surface and is wound into a cone while lying on this surface. The winding continues even after the cup has been formed, causing the formed cup to roll about the surface into a discharge position and to be discharged while it is still rolling or rotating about its own axis. To facilitate the discharge a movable sector may be provided in the supporting surface, said sector receding away from the end of the cup when the latter reaches discharge position. One further point is of outstanding importance and may be noted. In accordance ,with this invention, the paper being formed into a cup does not change the direction of its central longitudinal axis with respect to the axis of the strip from which it is severed. So far as I am aware, all other methods of rolling a single-piece cone-shaped cup about a mandrel require such a change of direction and hence it is impossible'to simultaneously form and sever a cup by such methods.

Having ,thus described the invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. That improved process of making a coneshaped vessel having a pointed apex. which consists in forming the vessel by winding it upon the unsevered end of a continuous strip of paper and progressively severing the vessel from the end of said strip as it is being wound.

2. That improved process of making aconeshaped vesselhaving a pointed apex, which con sists in forming the vessel by winding it upon the unsevered end of a continuous strip of paper and simultaneously severing the vessel from the end of said strip as it is being wound.

3. That improved process of making a coneshaped vessel having a pointed apex, which consists in forming thev vessel by winding it upon the unsevered end of a continuous strip of paper and simultaneously and progressively severing the vessel from the end of said strip as it is being wound.

4. That improvement in methods oi. making cone-shaped paper drinking cups having pointed apexes, which consists in forming the cup on the unsevered end of a continuous strip of paper and simultaneously and progressively severing the cup from the strip by a line of severance extending transversely of said strip.

5. That improved process of making a cone-,

shaped paper drinking cup have a pointed apex, which consists in forming the cup upon the unsevered end of a continuous strip of paper and completing the forming operation by a single severing operation.

6. That improved process of making a coneshaped paper drinking cup have anointed apex, which consists in forming the cup upon the end of a continuous strip of paper and accompanying the forming operation by a single severing operation extending transversely of said strip.

7. That improvement in the paper cup making art which consists in rolling a bodily movable former over the end of a continuous piece of paper to wrap the end of said piece 0! paper about the former into a cone-shaped cup having a leakproof apex.

8. That improved process of malclng coneshaped paper drinking cups having pointed apexes, which consists in winding the cup upon the end of a continuous strip of paper and severing the cup from the strip during a period intermediate of the winding operation.

9. That improved process of making a coneshaped paper drinking cup have a pointed apex, which consists in winding the cup upon the end of a continuous strip of paper and severing the cup from the strip, said severing operation commencing subsequent to the winding operation.

10. That improved process of making a coneshaped paper drinking cup have a pointed apex,

which consists in winding the cup upon the end of a continuous strip of paper and severing the cup from the strip, said severing operation being completed prior to the completion of the gressively severing the vessel from the end of the strip as it is being wound.

12. That improved process of making a coneshaped paper drinking cup have a pointed apex,

which consists in completely forming the cup during notmore than two rotations of a conical former about which the cup is wound.

13. That improved process of making a coneshaped paper drinking cup having a pointed apex, which consists in winding the 'cup about a conical former while the latter rotates about its own axis and simultaneously moves through a'circular orbit, the center of which orbit coincides with the apex of the cup.

14. That improved process of making a coneshaped vessel having a pointed apex, which consists in winding it upon aconical former which continuously and simultaneously rotates in a circular'orbit and about its own axis, with the apex of the vessel coinciding with the center of the orbit.

16. An apparatus of the character described, comprising, in combination, a conical former having a pointed apex and a smooth immobile surface in cooperative relationship therewith, said former being adapted to rotate about its own axis and simultaneously to swing through an orbit of which the center coincides at all times with the apex of the former.

17. An apparatus of the character described, comprising, in combination, a conical former having a pointed apex and a smooth immobile surface in cooperative relationship therewith, said former being adapted to rotate about its own axis and simultaneously to swing through an orbit.

18. An apparatus of the character described, comprising, in combination, a, conical former having a pointed apex and a smooth immobile surface in cooperative relationship therewith, said former being adapted to rotate about its own axis and simultaneously to swing through an 20. That improvement in methods of forming receptacles from a continuous flexible sheet material, which comprises the step of simultaneously forming and severing said receptacle from said sheet along arcs ofequal radii.

21. That improvement in methods of forming single piece paper cups, the height of which is not more than approximately twice'the diameter of the open mouth thereof, which includes the steps of applying adhesive to a sheet of material from which a cup is to be formed, delivering the sheet into a position beneath the conical former and above the smooth immobile surface and thereafter rotating the former to cause the sheet to be wound about said former to complete the cup forming operation.

DISCLAIM E R 2,139,614.Wclter E. Amberg, Chicago, Ill. METHOD AND MACHINE FOR MAKING PAPER CUPs. Patent dated December 6, 1938. Disclaimer filed December 8, l938 by the assignee, Universal Paper Products Company; the patentee,

approving. Hereby enters this disclaimer to claim [Ofiicwl Gazette December 27, 1938..

12 in said specification. 

